


Look How They Shine (For You)

by modelmagic



Category: Trolls (2016)
Genre: F/F, Stargazing, barb is a disaster
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:01:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23761246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/modelmagic/pseuds/modelmagic
Summary: Poppy and Barb spend time together after a party. They end up talking about puffalos, as you do.
Relationships: Poppy/Barb
Comments: 19
Kudos: 83





	Look How They Shine (For You)

The feeling of being one of the last people still at a party, well after it was over, was a weird one.

Like, it was technically not a party, not anymore. It was empty, but _so_ empty in a way that was almost haunting. Like the ghost of an event that was once there.

Barb didn’t think that she’d stay for this long, _especially_ to help with the cleanup. But here she was, helping Poppy with it. The pink troll insisted that no help was necessary, especially since this was a forest party, and most of the supplies and decorations were actual critters who simply knew when to leave, but Barb stayed.

As she lazily picked up some cups, Barb admired the way that Poppy multitasked; for example, sweeping up loose glitter with her hair while setting some glowbugs free, then immediately finding big leaves to use as blankets for a handful of trolls that passed out nearby.

Poppy held a critter in her hands and nuzzled it on its way out. Barb sighed longingly, before immediately stiffening her posture when Poppy made eye contact with her.

Poppy walked closer and Barb’s heartbeat was louder than any song she’d performed.

“Thanks so much for helping me, Barb! You really shouldn’t have!” Poppy said, as she hugged and awkward, didn’t-know-what-to-do-with-her-hands Barb. She let go before Barb could reciprocate in any way, shape, or form.

“...No prob.” Barb tried to sound cool. Tried.

Once they were both sure that their work was done, the two began to walk down the same path. Barb was going to walk her home, nothing more, nothing less. It was a start, at least.

Barb led the way through the forest, only having a vague idea as to where she was going, but considering it to be the chivalrous thing to do, especially when it came to moving branches out of the way for Poppy.

“Ooh!” Poppy squealed, followed by the sound of leaves crunching.

“Wh-“ Barb intended to finish her question after a quick turn of the head, perhaps in addition to a little smirk towards her... friend. They were friends.

That wasn’t what happened. Instead, her entire body turned around to the sight of Poppy...

Laying face up.

On the ground.

...

_On the ground?!_

Immediately bolting towards Poppy, Barb grabbed the other troll’s arm; half in an attempt to help her stand back up and half trying to move it around as she looked for any injuries. “What happened? What’d you trip on?!” After taking a few more seconds to frantically search for what could’ve caused this, Barb paused.

She gulped and slowly turned her attention to Poppy’s face, whose expression didn’t at all look like one that belonged to someone who was in any sort of pain.

She was smiling because of course she was smiling, she was Poppy. This smile, though, had an air of mischief. A toothy grin with a slight squint in her eyes.

To contrast, Barb’s own expression had the smallest of frowns combined with big, concerned eyes. Blinking for the first time in what felt like ages, her face began to warm up and she cleared her throat. “You, uh. You’re not hurt, are you?” This was, indeed, a stupid question.

The pop troll’s giggle was music to the rock troll’s ears. However, it made Barb both ease up _and_ tense up.

Feelings were stupid.

“I’m fine, Barb! Really!” Poppy’s grin quickly changed into a smirk, half-lidded eyes, and a teasing tone to her voice: “You were worried.”

“ _Anyway_ ,” Barb waved a hand in the air, her head turned to not face the pink troll. “Why are you... Y’know.” Her arms gestured to Poppy’s position on the grass. “That.”

“ _That!_ ” Poppy squealed, pointing a finger up at the night sky.

Barb looked up as well. “What?” Her brows furrowed. “The stars?”

“Yeah, stargazing! Haven’t you done that before?”

“No.”

“Oh. Then, we definitely have to do that! Right now, c’mon.” Poppy said as she yanked at Barb’s fishnets, but not _too_ roughly. Barb could tell that Poppy didn’t want to make any more holes in them.

Barb crossed her arms, an unamused expression across her face. “Sounds kinda boring, Popcorn.”

All the same, Poppy continued pulling on the fishnets, a pout and puppy-dog eyes staring daggers at the other troll, and Barb almost immediately found herself laying in the grass, right next to her.

Well, not _right_ next to her. Just next to her. Close enough, but not too close. Barb kept a distance, not that she didn’t _want_ to be closer to Poppy, but...

Anyway, grass. Grass felt weird against her head, in between the rips in her outfit, and on all other parts of her exposed skin. She began to wonder if something about the texture of her skin just wasn’t boding well with the grass, or if she just needed to cover up more before doing this again. If they _were_ going to do this ever again, that is...

On top of that, the nighttime breeze against her body made her shudder. This was an unwelcome shift from a mainly warm day. Rock trolls were more used to weather that would nearly melt your skin off, so the slightest change from that was an embarrassing weakness they had. So, laying on cold, itchy grass wasn’t exactly a favorite, and- _OHHPOPPYMOVEDCLOSERTOHER._

...

_Poppy moved closer to her._

Their arms were touching and Barb’s heart was in her throat.

Barb didn’t remember _when_ exactly she started to _stare_ at the fact that their arms were touching, however. Her eyes meeting Poppy’s were what broke her out of her trance.

A blush covering her face again (which may have been noticed by Poppy, if her snicker meant anything), Barb decided to laser-focus on the sky, trying to find anything to distract her.

Nope.

Nothing. Nada. No- _GAH!_

“Are you okay?” Poppy asked, a concerned tone in her voice as she leaned even closer to the rock troll. She placed a gentle hand on Barb’s shoulder.

Barb wanted to screech. “Yep,” she managed to squeak out instead. “Yep, all good. Stars, y’know?”

Poppy let go of her and returned to being at a reasonable distance.

Barb exhaled; she was relieved, disappointed, somewhat sad, glad, but she was, above all else, _dumb_. What kind of... _anything_ would she look like had she admitted to getting jumpscared by the moon?! Speaking of which, that moon usually seemed to have the most depressed look on his face. Barb always wondered what was up with that. Maybe he was having relationship issues with his boyfriend, the sun. _Why_ she easily assumed that the sun and the moon were a couple was a question to ponder for another day.

“So, what do you think?”

“About what?” Barb replied. “There’s literally nothing happening. Maybe you know more about stars than I do.” She said with a shrug.

“Actually, I kinda... don’t?” Poppy tilted her head ever so slightly to face Barb. The lack of personal space between the two made Barb gulp. “I mean, I’ve always wanted to! But just never got around to it, ya know? Busy with queen stuff, not enough time to study the stars, you know how it is! I just think it’s _sooo_ fun to look for any shapes! Like that over there!” Her hand shot up to gesture to their right. “You know what that looks like?”

“Stars.” Barb deadpanned.

“Yep!”

“Yep?”

“Uh-huh! Connect those ten stars together,” Poppy ‘connected’ them with her finger in the air, “and _boom_ , you have a _bigger_ star!”

Although Barb still didn’t get it, her lips curled into a smirk that she couldn’t help. Poppy’s smile was contagious.

Barb cherished the way the Poppy looked under the moonlight; her pink self seeming almost like the nicest orchid color, her eyes shining as much as the stars.

Poppy continued, her hand rapidly moving to their left. “ _That one!_ That’s definitely a guitar.” Before Barb could disagree, Poppy moved her arm once again. “And _that’s_ definitely a puffalo, can’t deny that!”

“What’s that?”

“What’s what? A puffalo?” Poppy gasped at Barb’s nodding. “Rock trolls don’t have puffalos?! Well, they’re just _the_ cutest thing imaginable!”

“Yeah, well. I can’t, uh.” Barb raised an eyebrow. “ _Imagine_ them just based off of that.”

Poppy’s grin faltered. “Oh, you’re right.” After placing a hand to her chin in deep thought, she pointed a finger in the air. “Got it, I can’t begin to describe how cute they are, so we _have_ to go pet some puffalos tomorrow!”

The idea of going to some kind petting zoo... _get-together_ , definitely not a date, with Poppy didn’t seem all that bad. She had enough time to think of more stuff to talk about until then. “Tomorrow?”

“You’re so right, Barb. Let’s go puffalo tipping tonight! Girls’ night!”

Barb choked on her own spit. _Tonight? Girls’ night?! All night with Poppy?!_

And now Poppy looked at her all weird. Barb just _had_ to go and choke on nothing.

“Barb-“

The rock troll finished coughing. “So-“ She cleared her throat in an attempt to have her voice sound less terrible. “Puffalo... tipping? Like, pushing them over? I thought you were all too goody-goody and soft, or whatever, for something like that.” This fact was, maybe, the fourth most important thing that she needed clarification on at the moment _(tonight, Girls’ night, ...Poppy)_. Nevertheless, she was... somewhat impressed. “Kinda hardcore, not gonna lie.”

“Oh, puffalos have a hard time laying on their sides!” Poppy explained with a smile. “So, we push them onto pillows and it helps them sleep better!” She squished her own cheeks with her pink hands and whispered: “They probably count puffalos as they drift off to slumberland...”

“Ah. There it is.” Barb placed an arm behind her head, propping it up.

“What?”

“ _Nothing.”_ Barb had to change the subject, not dig a hole any deeper with her snark. She stood up, stretching her body and shaking off any pieces of grass that dared irritate her skin. She absentmindedly extended an arm. “So, where we headed, Pop Star?”

Poppy might’ve been talking.

She might’ve, but Barb wasn’t able to tell for sure because as soon as Poppy’s hand held her own, it all became a blur. Which wasn’t helped by the fact that Poppy never let go of her hand.

_Unexpectedly spending even more of the night with Poppy. Holding hands with her. Going to some cutesy petting zoo with her._ Barb almost felt dizzy.

Walking together was more like Poppy happily dragging a zoned-out Barb around.

The heat on her face made Barb eventually snap out of it. They weren’t there yet, wherever it was that they were going. She soon also realized that Poppy stopped talking at some point.

Hopefully Poppy won’t ask her to recap anything that she talked about. And also that she didn’t realize the fact that Barb hasn’t said a single word in... who knows how long.

“Hey, Barb?” Poppy looked behind at her friend. “You’ve been _real_ quiet there, man.”

“Oh. I... was thinking.” Well, that wasn’t a lie.

“Do tell!” Well, now Barb _had_ to lie.

Poppy meant no harm, she just wanted to have a conversation with the only other person who was with her at the moment. It was Barb’s job, as that person, to reply to her. And she could do that. She could definitely do that.

She just had to _not_ say anything stupid.

“Uh... Pop trolls...” _Don’t say anything stupid._ “...Should collectively be called a _POP_ ulation...?”

...

Barb mentally slapped herself, and she did that a second time due to Poppy now stopping in her tracks and letting go of her hand.

Because her ‘joke’, if you could even call it that, was _that_ bad.

Poppy turned around... and brought both of her hands to her face.

And she laughed.

She laughed so hard.

Despite this laughter, it wasn’t until Poppy’s _“You’re a riot, Barb!”_ that the rock troll felt like she could breathe again.

And so, Barb began to laugh too, just a little.

Poppy’s smile _was_ contagious, after all.


End file.
